In The Crow, it is October 30th, ‘Devils Night’, and a horrendous crime takes place. Soon-to-be wed couple, Eric Draven and Shelly Webster are attacked in their home.
Eric is shot and thrown out of a window. Shelly is sexually assaulted and left for dead in their apartment.
Both die from their injuries. The culprits are never caught.
Exactly one year later, a mysterious crow visits Eric’s grave and taps its beak against his headstone. Moments later, as the rain falls and lightning flashes, Eric claws his way out of the grave.
Eric Draven – or at least the spirit of Eric Draven – has returned. After painting his face ghostly white, he heads into the night to take revenge against those who wronged him.
Directed by Alex Proyas, The Crow stars Brandon Lee, Ernie Hudson, Michael Wincott, Bai Ling, Rochelle Davis, Tony Todd, and Michael Massee. The film is a supernatural comic book movie, based on James O’Barr’s comic of the same name, and is the first entry in The Crow movie series.
And not only is The Crow the first entry, but it is also a bloody superb film. Despite its limited story, and a real-life tragedy which is connected to the movie (more about that in a moment), The Crow is one of the best comic book films of all time.
Director Alex Proyas takes a simple premise, injects darkness, atmosphere, and energy into proceedings, and turns a lesser known comic into one heck of a picture. The film is grim, gritty, and truly captivating, with the late Brandon Lee perfectly cast as Eric Draven.
Lee captures the heart and soul of the character, and pitches his performance just right. He is then backed up by some great supporting players, including Michael Wincott as the villainous Top Dollar, Ernie Hudson as honest cop Daryl Albrecht, and Rochelle Davis as latch-key kid Sarah Mohr.
Yet despite the positives The Crow is bathed in tragedy, and while I don’t want to dwell on sadness in this review, it does need to be addressed. For those unaware, during filming of The Crow, Brandon Lee was killed on set when a stunt went wrong.
A sequence involving a gun led to the actor being mortally wounded and the movie was released posthumously. The film includes a dedication to the actor, as well as to his fiancée Eliza Hutton.
Lee’s death was beyond awful and is something which will remain forever connected to this picture. There’s simply no way to talk about The Crow without speaking about the accident.
However, as previously mentioned, I don’t want to dwell on the tragedy. I believe the film should be celebrated for what it achieves.
The Crow looks great, boasts excellent cinematography from Dariusz Wolski, and contains a highly emotive score from composer Graeme Revell. The film’s 100+ minute run time flies by, it never loses momentum or runs out of steam, and it just hits hard.
The Crow is one of those lightning in a bottle movies, which simply works from start to finish. None of its sequels which followed in the ‘90s and ‘00s (City of Angels, Salvation, Wicked Prayer) could recreate the same level of quality and it remains a piece of pure brilliance.
If you’ve somehow let this gem pass you by, rectify the situation immediately. The Crow is widely available on DVD, Blu-ray, and 4K, as well as through digital platforms.
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